SBF is the National governing body of the Sport of Tenpin Bowling in Singapore and recognised as such by the Singapore National Olympic Council and the Government, the latter through its Ministry of Sports and the Singapore Sports Council. It is also recognised as such by the Asian Bowling Federation (ABF), the World Tenpin Bowling Association (WTBA) and the Fédération International des Quilleurs (FIQ).
To MAKE it viable for player, vendors and sponsors
HISTORY
Tenpin Bowling was initially confined to the private lanes of the American Club for obvious reasons - the sport was already a flourishing multi-million dollar industry with it's popularity among Americans of all ages, forcing the export of this US-penchant to the rest of the world, including Singapore.
Singaporeans were finally provided its first public centre when Jackie's Bowl Orchard opened her doors to 12-hour long waiting lists of curious locals on Christmas Eve in 1965.
Local bowling legend Henry Tan was one of those curious Singaporeans. He remembered that there was "so much desire to get a touch of this new sport called bowling" that people actually took tokens to book a lane for 12 hours later.
That signaled the start of a bowling boom of sorts as bowling centres sprouted all over the island. The development spiral however, had its misgivings as the owners of these bowling centres were in fact property developers who saw a great opportunity to reap loads of cash from a retail business that they had little or no expertise or experience in.
The trend has continued some 44 years now with the commercial incentives of the sport overpowering the efforts of SBF to promote and propagate Tenpin Bowling as a sport where Singaporeans stand realistic opportunities to attain competitive success at the regional and international levels - in other words, Sports Excellence.
The highly technical nature of the sport has made excellent ball sense insufficient to carry a bowler with great potential, to the pinnacle. The ability to read the lanes - much like a golfer reading the putting green - comes through proper instruction and practice. The ability to deliver the ball accurately all the time comes through getting the body mechanics fine-tuned and well balanced so that all that can be done has been done to facilitate a perfect delivery.
The commercial bowling centres, while enjoying the monetary fruits of the sport's popularity among Singaporeans, have somewhat neglected the basics of the sport in so far as a trained bowler will bowl more regularly than the social bowler. They have not needed to worry about this, as the composition of their lineage is irrelevant to their bottom-line. And, lineages at most of Singapore's commercial centres have been extremely healthy even to date. The exceptions are few and far between when one considers the millions of dollars of cash that the commercial centres have raked in and will continue to rake in.
The burden of promotion and development has therefore fallen squarely on the shoulders of the Federation all these years. With barely enough to maintain a Secretariat, let alone a Director of Coaching and the National Youth Development Squads, the Federation has weathered the negatives rather well, achieving success at SEA Games, Asian Games, World Games and regional and world FIQ tournaments with surprising regularity. It has also successfully hosted, among other things, the 1973 Bowling World Cup, 1983 SEA Games, 1984 FIQ Asian Championships, 1991 FIQ World Championships, 1993 SEA Games, 1998 1st Asian Schools' Championships and the 1999 FIQ Asian Youth Championships.
SBF TODAY
The Federation today is headed by Mrs Jessie Phua, whose involvement with bowling dates back to 1994 when she was the Chairman of SBF's Youth Development Programme. And in 1995, she was elected Vice President of SBF.
Mr Sidek Bin Saniff, former Senior Minister of State for the Environment and and also an avid believer that bowling is for all ages and all races, is still the Federation's Advisor and had played a pivotal role in the introduction of Tenpin Bowling as a Co-Curricular Activity in Schools. In addition, the Federation was once under the distinguished patronage of Mr Tan Eng Joo and Mr Kwek Leng Joo, both very prominent business leaders in the Singapore economy.
Mrs Jessie Phua, the newly elected FIQ President, is ably assisted by high-powered team of Vice-Presidents and Council Members and each has contributed in no small way towards the successes of SBF - the most recent being the 2002 Asian Games- 3 Gold, 2002 AMF World Cup- 1 Silver, 2002 Asian Championship- 3 Silver, 2004 Asian Youth Championship- 2 Gold, 2 Silver, 2006 Asian Games- 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze, 2007 SEA Games- 3 Gold. 1 Bronze.
With financial support from the Sports Excellence Division of the Singapore Sports Council and the funds to be generated by the Federation through other sources, there is an air of optimism in SBF that Tenpin Bowling will bring Singapore to the heights of Sporting Excellence.
Updated 31st December, 2007.
